Monsanto, a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that aim to improve farm productivity and food quality, joins WBCSD and is offering the WBCSD’s Business Ecosystems Training (BET) course globally for employees. The BET course will enhance employees’ awareness and understanding of the links between ecosystems and business.

Monsanto is working to help find ways to produce more food within the limits of the world’s natural systems. A global population expected to grow to 9 billion people by 2050 will mean rising demand for food coupled with increasing strains on natural resources – such as water, arable land and ecosystem services. This requires new agriculture systems and products that are both more productive and more sustainable.

“In joining the WBCSD, Monsanto is taking an important step along a continuum towards developing a more sustainable agriculture system – one that improves our daily lives, respects our global environment and recognizes the importance of the world’s small-holder farmers,” said Peter Bakker, President, WBCSD. “We must find new ways to protect soils, enhance ecosystems and optimize land use in ways that are environmentally sound. And we must move towards a future vision for agriculture where absolutes become as out of place as a one-size-fits-all approach to farming.”

“At Monsanto, our company vision for sustainable agriculture strives to contribute to meeting the needs of the growing population, to protect and preserve natural resources, and to help improve lives,” said Jerry Steiner, Executive Vice President, Sustainability and Corporate Affairs at Monsanto. “We are excited to join the WBCSD and connect with a global coalition of more than 200 companies that advocate for progress on sustainable development.”

Hugh Grant, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Monsanto, will represent the company as a WBCSD Council Member. Jerry Steiner, Executive Vice President of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs at Monsanto, is the WBCSD Liaison Delegate. Gabriela Burian, Director of Sustainable Agriculture Ecosystems at Monsanto, leads the company’s integration and implementation of WBCSD ecosystem training and tools.